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16th Global Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing - Sustainable Manufacturing for Global Circular Economy
16th Global Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing - Sustainable Manufacturing for Global Circular Economy
Stepping Valve Actuator Algorithm for a Camless IC Engine
Stepping Valve Actuator Algorithm for a Camless IC Engine
Manufacturing Engineering
I. Zibani a Societyb,International
*, R. Marumo J. Chumac, Conference
I. Ngebanid2017, MESIC
and K. 2017,e.28-30 June
Tsamaase
a
Marumo , J. Chuma , I. Ngebani and K. Tsamaasee.
I. Zibani *, R.a,b,e,d 2017,b Vigo (Pontevedra),
c d
Spain
University of Botswana, P/Bag 0022, Gaborone, Botswana
c
Botswana International
a,b,e,d University
University of Science
of Botswana, and 0022,
P/Bag Technology, P/Bag
Gaborone, 16, Palapye, Botswana
Botswana
Costing models for capacity optimization in Industry 4.0: Trade-off
c
Botswana International University of Science and Technology, P/Bag 16, Palapye, Botswana

between used capacity and operational efficiency

Abstract
Abstract
Camless Engines offer manyA. Santanaover , P. Afonso , A. Zanin , R. Wernke
a a,* b b
advantages poppet valve systems. However, they suffer from air/hydraulic leakages and
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University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal
they suffer from to air/hydraulic
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back on its seatDevice
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The Valve EventII Algorithm
Design Environment. The overall
has been designed, aim ofand
simulated thissuccessfully
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have the three ontocomponents
an Altera
required for ignition:
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using MaxandPlus
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The overall aim of engine efficiency
this study is tofor thethe
have entire RPM
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components
requiredthe
Under for ignition:
concept fuel, spark and air,
of "Industry entirely
4.0", controlledprocesses
production in softwarewill to maintain
be pushedenginetoefficiency for the entire
be increasingly RPM range.
interconnected,
© 2018 The Authors.
information based on Published by Elsevier
a real time basis and,Ltd. necessarily, much more efficient. In this context, capacity optimization
©© 2018
2019
This is The
an
The Authors.
open access
Authors. Published by
article under
Published Elsevier
thecapacity
by of B.V.
CC BY-NC-ND
Elsevier license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Ltd.maximization,
goes beyond the traditional aim
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND contributing also for organization’s profitability and value.
license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review
This is
Indeed, an under
open responsibility
access article underof the scientific
CC BY-NC-NDcommittee of the
license 16th Global Conference on Sustainable
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) Manufacturing
Selectionlean managementunder
and peer-review and responsibility
continuous improvement
of the scientificapproaches
committee ofsuggest the 16thcapacity optimization
Global Conference instead of
on Sustainable
(GCSM)
Peer-review under
Manufacturing (GCSM). responsibility of the scientific committee of the 16th Global Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing
maximization. The study of capacity optimization and costing models is an important research topic that deserves
(GCSM)
contributions from
Keywords: Camless, both the
Stepping practical
Valve, and theoretical
Radial Coreless Stator, Valveperspectives. This paper presents and discusses a mathematical
Event Algorithm;
model
Keywords: Camless, Stepping Valve, Radial Coreless Stator, Valve Event Algorithm;(ABC and TDABC). A generic model has been
for capacity management based on different costing models
developed and it was used to analyze idle capacity and to design strategies towards the maximization of organization’s
value. The trade-off capacity maximization vs operational efficiency is highlighted and it is shown that capacity
1. Introduction
optimization
1. Introductionmight hide operational inefficiency.
© 2017 The Authors.
In general, camlessPublished
systemsby control
Elsevier the
B.V.valve events without using the camshaft. Using a combination of sensors,
Peer-review
In under
general, responsibility
camless systems of the scientific
control
including the camshaft and crankshaft sensors,the committee
valvetheeventsof without
engine thecontrol
Manufacturing
using
unit the Engineering
camshaft.
is able Society
Using
to identify thea International
combination
Otto Conference
of sensors,
Cycle State it is in,
2017.
including the camshaft and crankshaft sensors, the engine control unit is able to identify the Otto Cycle State it iscan
in,
and open/close valves through the use of pneumatic, hydraulic or electromagnetic actuation. These systems
and open/close valves through the use of pneumatic, hydraulic or electromagnetic actuation.
regulate incoming air (throttling) without using a throttle valve, resulting in reduced pumping loses, [1]. These systems can
Keywords: Cost Models; ABC; TDABC; Capacity Management; Idle Capacity; Operational Efficiency
regulate incoming air (throttling) without using a throttle valve, resulting in reduced pumping loses, [1].

1. Introduction
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +267-355-4443; fax: +267-395-2309.
E-mail
* The address:
cost
Corresponding zibani@mopipi.ub.bw
of idle capacity
author. is a fundamental
Tel.: +267-355-4443; information for companies and their management of extreme importance
fax: +267-395-2309.
E-mail address:
in modern zibani@mopipi.ub.bw
production systems. In general, it is defined as unused capacity or production potential and can be measured
2351-9789 © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
in several ways:
This is an open access
tons ofunderproduction, available hours of manufacturing, etc. The management of the idle capacity
2351-9789 © 2018 Thearticle the CC BY-NC-ND
Authors. Published license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
by Elsevier Ltd.
* Paulo Afonso.
Peer-review underTel.: +351 253
responsibility 510 761; fax: +351
of the scientific 253
committee 604
of741
the 16th Global Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing (GCSM)
This is an open access article under CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
E-mail address: psafonso@dps.uminho.pt
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 16th Global Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing (GCSM)

2351-9789
2351-9789©©2017
2019The
TheAuthors.
Authors.Published by Elsevier
Published B.V. B.V.
by Elsevier
Peer-review underaccess
This is an open responsibility
article of the scientific
under committee oflicense
the CC BY-NC-ND the Manufacturing Engineering Society International Conference 2017.
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 16th Global Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing (GCSM).
10.1016/j.promfg.2019.04.014
100 I. Zibani et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 33 (2019) 99–106
2 Author name / Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2018) 000–000

Figure 1 a) shows the basic poppet valve system consisting of a camshaft system driven by the crankshaft via a
timing belt [2, 3, 14]. The valve events are synchronized to the crank motion, with slight modification possible by
use of VVT techniques [4]. The use of cameless techniques de-couple the control of valve events from the crankshaft
for a much better engine efficiency over the entire RPM range. Pneumatic valve systems use compressed air to
control the valve events, whilst hydraulic systems use compressed liquid (oil) to open/close the valves, [5, 6]. The
Koenigsegg Freevalve cameless engine (figure 1b) use pressurized air to open/close the valve. A low pressure fluid
is pumped through the opposing rails to stabilize the valve once it has reached its desired lift and also to slow it
down when landing on its seat or fully open, [7]. The disadvantage of the pneumatic/hydraulic system is mainly high
maintenance costs associated with seals which needs frequent replacements. The seals are present in pressure valves
and pressure pumps.
An Electro-Magnetic Valve Actuation, EMVA uses electromagnets to open and close the valves, [7, 8, 13]. The
pair of electromagnets (figure 1c) can move the armature down (opening valve) or up (closing valve) by simply
changing the direction of the magnet field. Using a special algorithm to vary the intensity of the magnetic field, the
valve landing speed can be controlled, and the valve events can be entirely flexible, limited only by the position of
the piston. The springs help stabilize the valve and to ensure that it remains closed following a failure from the
control unit, [8]. The EMVA system suffers from high velocity impacts as the valve lands. Controlling the landing
speed will require feedback to determine piston position. Thus, the potential danger of a piston-valve collision still
exists. A modern engine using 4 valves will require 4 electromagnetic valve actuators, which will complete for the
limited space on the cylinder-head.
In a traditional poppet valve system, valve lift refers to the height of a fully open valve. The lift duration
determines how long the valve stays open. The opening of the valve follows a sinusoidal shape determined by the
cam lobe [9, 15]. The phase refers to the instant when the valve opens. This is a timing parameter which is
determined by the cam lobe. Note that VVT techniques can alter lift duration and phase [10, 16].

(a) The poppet valve system. (b) The pneumatic/hydraulic system (c) The electromagnetic system
Fig. 1. The trend in the development of valve events controlling systems.

The proposed cameless system mainly consists of stepping valves which rotates at 90 0 to the motion of the piston,
avoiding any possible interaction (figure 3a). This greatly simplifies the actuator algorithm as no feedback is
required for the position of the piston. Figure 2 compares valve lift profiles from fiat MultiAir [11] and the proposed
system. The proposed system displays a flat valve profile for the entire duration of an Otto Cycle, resulting from an
almost instant valve lift. This is an advantage since the engine can remain closed for longer during the power stroke,
resulting in a better efficiency. With no valve springs, there is less load on the engine. Valve events can occur with
the crankshaft stationary. So, initially treating the engine like a 2-stroke and supplying descending pistons with air,
fuel and spark, the engine can start turning without the assistance of a mechanical starter [12].
 I. Zibani et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 33 (2019) 99–106 101
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Fig. 2. Optimisation of Combustion Efficiency for CAM/CAMLESS Systems using Valve Lift Modes

Fig. 3. (b) Algorithm for Spark, Fuel and Valve Events. (Also called
Otto Cycle Flow Chart)

Table 1. The truth table for the Control Algorithm

Fig. 3. (a) Camless Stepping Valve Actuator

Design, showing a coreless stator, and a
matching rotor, amongst others.

2. The Stepping Valve Design

The proposed camless system is depicted in figure 3. The main concept of a stepping valve has been studied in
[12]. For this study, the main objectives are to achieve frictionless valve lift-off, seamless valve state change and
gentle sitting. A coreless, radial actuator BLDC motor principle has been chosen for this design. A coreless stator
produces no hysteris heat.
102 I. Zibani et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 33 (2019) 99–106
4 Author name / Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2018) 000–000

2.1. System Overview

Figure 4 shows the stator and rotor construction, including position of the soft iron on the stator. Figure 5 shows a
demonstration of how a valve event takes place. The valve will change state following a change in the Otto Cycle
state. For example, suppose the valve moves from exhaust to intake. To avoid friction with its seat, the valve has to
lift-off downwards (figure 5a). This is achieved by energizing the stator with current valve code (the exhaust valve
code). The valve will shoot straight down by 1mm (designed feature) in time tVL, (see table 2). At this point we
supply the intake valve code for V1 to step from e1 to i1 in time tVSC, (figure 5b). Finally, the coil is gradually de-
energized so that the rotor remains only attracted by soft iron, sealing the valve (figure 5c). Notice that each valve
hole (v1 – v4) on the stepping valve follows a 3 valve state (exhaust, intake, closed), defined by the algorithm of
figure 3b). Because of the geometry, each hole will also have to go through the states of other holes, i.e., 12 states in
all as designed in the stator and rotor. For example, v1 will go through e1, i1, c1 through to e2, i2, c2 until it returns
to its original state, e1 (figure 5b).

Fig. 4. (a) Stator Assembly (b) Rotor Assembly (c) Magnet interaction
with coil & soft iron

Fig. 5. (a) Valve Lift-Off Action. (b) Valve State Change (c) Valve Seating Action
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2.2. The Design of the control algorithm

Fig. 6. The operation of the control system

Table 2. 16bit VELPC Truth Table showing Valve Events Duration and related Outputs
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The operation of the control algorithm is described by figure 6. The trigger wheel is binary coded using a single
bit binary code which corresponds to TDC and BDC. A PDS optical sensor receives a signal which corresponds to
the piston going up (logic 1). As the piston moves down, the PDS optical sensor is shielded from light by the trigger
wheel (logic 0). The Schmitt Trigger circuitry converts light pulses to a PDS electrical signal. The pulse transition
detector will produce a clock (called an event clock) whenever the PDS signal changes value. Thus an event clock
will be generated at both TDC and BDC. The engine control unit, ECU, is event driven by the pulse transition
detector. It will generate valve control inputs, amongst others, according to the Otto Cycle flow chart of figure 3b).
Details about the generation of Valve Control Inputs of table 1 are covered in [12]. The Valve State Change
Detector, VSCD, determines if there is any change in the Valve State for a given Otto Cycle State. Specifically,
moving from Compression to Power stroke, the valve remain closed so that there is no need to trigger the VELPC
(Valve Event Latching and Power Control). The purpose of the VELPC as the name suggests is to latch the valve
control inputs, (A1, A2&A3) and also to control the power output of the high_power digital to Analog Convertor
(hpDAC). The operation of the VELPC is best described using a truth table as shown in table 2. (NB: 16bit VELPC
was chosen for sake of a simplified analysis).
The VELPC is driven by a real time clock and produces 3 outputs; store, ext_trig and DAC_Data. The VELPC
unconditionally progresses from one state to the next and then locks on to the last state with an hpDAC output of all
zeros. A Valve State Change, is preceded by a Valve State Change Indicator, VSCI pulse which will reset the
VELPC so that it will start counting from FSM state S0. During the Valve Lift Time, tVL, the inputs to the hpDAC
will be all high and the H-Bridge drivers will be fed with the same valve event data. As a result, the valve will be
firmly pushed down from its sit (figure 5a). During the Valve State Change Time, tVSC, the hpDAC input remains
high, and the H-Bridge Drivers will be latched with new valve position information so that the valve moves to a new
position (figure 5b). During the valve settling time, tVS, the VELPC will down count its DAC_data to all zeros so
that the valve coils are completely de-energized. The soft iron core will attract the rotor magnets to firmly seat the
valve (figure 5c). At this point, the VELPC will be locked to FSM state S15, awaiting its next trigger. Using the
VELPC to control power to the H-Bridge will be better than using pulse width modulation, PWM which uses high
frequency pulsating of the power supply. The VER registers valve events whilst the VSR registers valve states.

Fig. 7. the design of the control algorithm using Max Plus II development platform
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3. Experimental Setup of the Valve Actuator Algorithm

The setup started with simulation of the control system of figure 6 using Altera’s Max Plus II design
environment. (Note that the analog devices, H-Bridge and hpDAC, are not part of the simulator, they were included
for completeness). The Max Plus II design is shown in figure 7. The obtained results are shown in figure 9.
The mechanical setup of figure 8b) shows the stator and the valve. The stator consists of a 3-phase, 12 coil
windings. There are 4 coils per phase, connected in series and rated at 3Amps, 12V DC. The hardware setup of
figure 8a) shows an EPF 10K ALTERA FPGA device. The actuator algorithm was downloaded onto this device.

Fig. 8. (a) MaxPlus II hardware programming setup. (b) Prototype Stepping valve system

Fig. 9. Simulation Results of the Actuator Control Algorithm

4. Results and Discussions

The results of the simulation are shown in figure 9. A valve event (e.g. T0-T3) typically lasts for only a fraction
of valve event period (T0-T4). Also refer to figure 2. During the valve idle period (i.e., T3-T4), the DAC_data = 0,
therefore the H-Bridge is off, saving power.
Let’s assume that the ECU, is currently in the exhaust Otto Cycle State. At time T0, the event clock drives the
ECU to the intake state. The VSCD will detect a valve state change and generates a pulse (VSCI) to reset the
VELPC to its original state. From T0 to T2, DAC_data is a maximum value of 7. This last for 4 FSM states, S0 to
S3 (see table 2). During this time, hpDAC supplies the H-Bridge with full power for a time duration of t VL. The
latches A1 to A3 still contains the old valve state data corresponding to the previous valve state, which is exh(5).
106 I. Zibani et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 33 (2019) 99–106
8 Author name / Procedia Manufacturing 00 (2018) 000–000

This will have the effect of pushing the rotor straight down to re-align the rotor magnets with the stator (see figure
5a). Basically, the valve is lifted off its sit, avoiding valve-sit wear. At time T1, the output Store is asserted and it
clocks the latches A1 to A3 with new Valve State Data of int(5). The H-Bridge will be supplied will full power
(DAC-data=7), therefore the rotary valve will now snap into a new position corresponding to int (5), (see figure 5b).
This valve state change lasts for 4 FSM clock cycles (S4 to S7). From T2, the DAC-data sequence follows that of a
3-bit binary down counter. This has the effect of reducing power to the H-Bridges, making the rotor attracted more
to the soft iron pieces. At T3, DAC_data=0, the rotor will be completely held by the soft iron pieces, sealing the
valve (see figure 5c). From T3 to T4, DAC_data remains 0, and the valve stays on its seat. From T4 to T8, a valve
state change process for the compression stroke occurs. Its discussion will be similar to the intake discussed above.
In addition, the cylinder pressure during this stroke enhances the valve seal. At T8, the event clock signifies a new
Otto state, the power stroke. This time no VSCI pulse will be produced since the valve must remain closed (no valve
state change). The VELPC is not reset, hence DAC_data remains 0. The whole cycle repeats when we go back to the
exhaust stroke.
For this project, the valve event times were recorded as tVL = tVSC = 2mS, tVS = 4mS.

5. Conclusions and future work

This project managed to demonstrate seamless valve state change without valve-seat wear. The soft iron acts like
a valve spring and holds the valve in place in between valve events. During its motion, the valve is able to spring up
(tVL) and change state (tVSC) without any mechanical constraints. By using interpolation, virtual angles can be drawn
on the flywheel in order to achieve valve events retardation/advance. This technique can also be applied for
fuel/spark phasing.
To maintain sustainability, future developments of the proposed system are implementable by reconfiguring the
hardware functions on the FPGA platform (hardware programming) and reprogramming the system functions
(software programming). For example, the system can be programmed to accept various fuel types, work as 2 or 4
stroke engine or accept fuel at the intake or compression stroke (as for a GDI engine).

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